Alolan Vulpix, Ninetales Discussion

It does sound rough, but not impossible. Smeargle is early in the game if that team planner is correct. you get Eevee second island, and then you get Vulpix and Snorunt 3rd island. Yopu could possible take a break there to get both moves and the hiddle ability and be ready for breeding by third island(I would assume ever stone would come earlier then that)

Its not ideal, but if I want to use Ninetails in the mainstory its my only option... still would need to wait till post game for Celesteela, but only 1 post game pokemon is better then my 2 post game pokemon in Moon(Pheromosa and Tapu Lele)
I mean Ninetales is perfectly useable in game. You can get the hidden ability Ninetales and still get Aurora Veil, Blizzard, Dazzling Gleam, and a filler move. You are going to be breeding postgame anyways, seems like a waste of time to get it during the story when you aren't even sure you have all your resources together. But hey, to each their own!
 
I mean Ninetales is perfectly useable in game. You can get the hidden ability Ninetales and still get Aurora Veil, Blizzard, Dazzling Gleam, and a filler move. You are going to be breeding postgame anyways, seems like a waste of time to get it during the story when you aren't even sure you have all your resources together. But hey, to each their own!
I just prefer no to replace pokemon with breeded versions later on my first teams. Just a rule I follow. But if it turns out it is quite hard to get the moves at the point I could make an exception
 
I think A-Ninetails could be a valuable VGC teammate to deny Trick Room (roar) and take away weather from opposing weather dependent teams. Veil and Blizzard still give it some viability outside of just counter teaming.
 
I think this mon is going to be very, very good. In fact I think people are underestimating it a bit because everyone just thinks hail is a joke.

Dual screens in one turn off a mon with good stats and move pool is very powerful and weather teams in general look to make a come back so snow warning will be great for denying opposing weather.

I don't think you build a "hail team" around it really, its more like the hail is just an added bonus on an already strong mon.
 
I think this mon is going to be very, very good. In fact I think people are underestimating it a bit because everyone just thinks hail is a joke.

Dual screens in one turn off a mon with good stats and move pool is very powerful and weather teams in general look to make a come back so snow warning will be great for denying opposing weather.

I don't think you build a "hail team" around it really, its more like the hail is just an added bonus on an already strong mon.
I'm not building a hail team for my Alolan Ninetails. I was gonna use her even before I heard she had Snow warning. Just the fact that it gets that double Screens in 1 turn is great for my team, and worth taking a little hail damage for everyone else.
 
Something I also always loved about Hail/Sand was how it exposes everyone's speed on field. That's good info to gain from Nine-A's Snow Warning. Def one of the better Alola Pokemon
 
I'm not building a hail team for my Alolan Ninetails. I was gonna use her even before I heard she had Snow warning. Just the fact that it gets that double Screens in 1 turn is great for my team, and worth taking a little hail damage for everyone else.
Yea I mean I think you probably do wanna run either Beartic or Alolan Sandslash with Ninetales but I think that's as far as you commit to the hail theme. Rest of the team should just be good mons who cover weaknesses and like screens.

Edit: Also I could see Bulu, Lele, and Fini all being good on a Ninetales team I think it just depends how you build it. Bulu because Fire types are good partners and they appreciate the earthquake cushion, grassy terrain pretty much nullifies hail damage for both sides but that doesn't matter since you're really more like a dual screens/anti weather team not a hail team. Lele or Fini could be good if you go hyper offensive since they can keep your sweeper/sweepers from getting killed by priority or worn down by status.
 
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Alright if I use an Aloan Vulpix with Freeze Dry and Moon Blast. What should the two other moves be and what ability?
I am going with Veil and Blizzard with the snow warning ability.

Yea I mean I think you probably do wanna run either Beartic or Alolan Sandslash with Ninetales but I think that's as far as you commit to the hail theme. Rest of the team should just be good mons who cover weaknesses and like screens.

Edit: Also I could see Bulu, Lele, and Fini all being good on a Ninetales team I think it just depends how you build it. Bulu because Fire types are good partners and they appreciate the earthquake cushion, grassy terrain pretty much nullifies hail damage for both sides but that doesn't matter since you're really more like a dual screens/anti weather team not a hail team. Lele or Fini could be good if you go hyper offensive since they can keep your sweeper/sweepers from getting killed by priority or worn down by status.
I mean that is a good idea, but it didn't turn out that way for the team. I try to only use new pokemon on a first team and all... and didn't wanted both Sandslash and Ninetails together(though its not a bad idea)



Thats the planned team.
 
How come there's so many trying to capitalize on hail as if its mandatory? In singles, seems like the biggest appeal for Ninetales is Aurora Veil for team support and Blizzard Spam. That alone is pretty impressive for what was once considered an underwhelming fire-type.
 
Cause its a shiny new toy?

Ninetails is by far and away the best hail setter in the game, so if Hails EVER going to work, Ninetails will be at the helm. And to be fair Ninetails + Beartic could do decently well with the right support and Ninetails does very well against other weather starters with its movepool, giving it a good niche.

Ninetails itself will probably be used for the Dual Screens, Blizzard Spam and being one of the best users of Freeze Dry around, an those Dual Screens will be a way into OU quite possibly, but Hail is going to be a strategy run along side it, may as well discuss it now.
 
I could see Ninetales paired with Hippo. It'll beat all the other weather setters, apart from Pelipper which gets ohkod by freeze dry and opposing Hippos which wont like freeze dry either.

Regarding Slush Rush, it seems kinda useless to me thanks to bad and slow users. Aurora Veil is enough of a powerful supportive utility, and I would not include a single additional ice pkmn on the team. But then that invalidates my first point about aurora veil since there'd be no need to win the weather war.. *shrug*
 
Cause its a shiny new toy?

Ninetails is by far and away the best hail setter in the game, so if Hails EVER going to work, Ninetails will be at the helm. And to be fair Ninetails + Beartic could do decently well with the right support and Ninetails does very well against other weather starters with its movepool, giving it a good niche.

Ninetails itself will probably be used for the Dual Screens, Blizzard Spam and being one of the best users of Freeze Dry around, an those Dual Screens will be a way into OU quite possibly, but Hail is going to be a strategy run along side it, may as well discuss it now.
The issue I see with hail is that unlike, say, rain which can activate swift swim and cover fire weaknesses without a conflict of interest, hail has to prioritize whether slush rush or Aurora veil will get the 8 turn bonus. I want hail to work, but I think it's gonna struggle to support both roles.
 
I am going with Veil and Blizzard with the snow warning ability.



I mean that is a good idea, but it didn't turn out that way for the team. I try to only use new pokemon on a first team and all... and didn't wanted both Sandslash and Ninetails together(though its not a bad idea)



Thats the planned team.
This might be a stupid question but is this from some kind of team builder app or something? If so what's it called
 
The issue I see with hail is that unlike, say, rain which can activate swift swim and cover fire weaknesses without a conflict of interest, hail has to prioritize whether slush rush or Aurora veil will get the 8 turn bonus. I want hail to work, but I think it's gonna struggle to support both roles.
Using hail means Slush Rush, and Slush Rushers don't need constant Aurora Veil, that would only help them get onto the field. It'd go like:
Turn 1: Alola-tales enters field (8 turns of hail remaining)
Turn 2: Alola-tales uses Aurora Veil (7 turns, 5 turns of Veil)
Turn 3: enter Slush Rush or other hail user (6 turns of hail, 4 turns of Aurora Veil)

That's more than enough turns to do some damage. It's enough for, say Alola-slash to setup with Swords Dance

But, the current number of Slush Rushers is fairly disappointing... it'd at least be nice if we got a special one. Glaceon and Vanilluxe could have been really good, but the former is still not even viable in PU and the latter feels kind of redundant when Alola-tales is simply better as a hail setter.
 
The real issue with slush rush is the same issue that Hail has always had - stacking of Ice-types where resistances are few. Sandslash is the only workable user with Ninetales thanks to the resistances that the steel type brings, as otherwise you are just stacking Ice weaknesses. Even then, Fire is an issue as they are the prime switch-ins to Ninetales given it's awful coverage.

If you really want to use Ninetales I'd focus on the Aurora Veil aspect with Light Clay + synergistic sweeper. Off the top of my head, pairing it with the likes of SR Heatran + (Mega) Gyarados would probably work well.
 
The issue I see with hail is that unlike, say, rain which can activate swift swim and cover fire weaknesses without a conflict of interest, hail has to prioritize whether slush rush or Aurora veil will get the 8 turn bonus. I want hail to work, but I think it's gonna struggle to support both roles.
as already mentioned, you don't need all 8 turns of Aurora Veil. Its just there to get Sandslash/Beartic in to their job. If they all do what they have to, it mitigates the Ice weaknesses somewhat.

Its not the best way to use Ninetails, but its another niche it has, as it will be essential to getting hail to have a semblance of working
 
I wonder if aurora veil with this thing being defensive and articuno would be a good core, alongside alolan sandslash, mega abominasnow, and then maybe a solid overcoat pokemon, and another sweeper. Sure it has a ton of weaknesses. I just want an excuse to use my shiny articuno from fire red lol.
 
I wonder if aurora veil with this thing being defensive and articuno would be a good core, alongside alolan sandslash, mega abominasnow, and then maybe a solid overcoat pokemon, and another sweeper. Sure it has a ton of weaknesses. I just want an excuse to use my shiny articuno from fire red lol.
Not in OU that's for damn sure. I'm not convinced Alola ninetails is dropping below UU with snow warning. Maybe BL-2. And I don't think this team would fair well up there.

I honestly think this thing is going to function as either a fast, bulky nasty plotter with aurora veil up or it's going to go full support. Which it can do pretty easily.

Frankly I have a feeling longer dual screen is going to be far more valuable than longer hail in the long run. Even on a hail team. If you're gonna do a hail team do double setter rather than give up aurora veil longevity. Especially if your hail team is mostly ice types.
 
I will say though that like 80% of Ninetale's usage is gonna be Screens support using Light Clay, as providing half damage for strong sweepers is generally better than supporting some rather medicore (and still not terribly fast) Slush Rushers. I wouldn't be surprised if Ninetales-A sees a lot of usage in OU just because of Aurora Veil, though with how much normal screens get used (despite the variety of viable setters,) it very well might not.
 
I will say though that like 80% of Ninetale's usage is gonna be Screens support using Light Clay, as providing half damage for strong sweepers is generally better than supporting some rather medicore (and still not terribly fast) Slush Rushers. I wouldn't be surprised if Ninetales-A sees a lot of usage in OU just because of Aurora Veil, though with how much normal screens get used (despite the variety of viable setters,) it very well might not.
Also with a lot of people not wanting to double up on types on the same team, OU has far better Fairy types and at least an option here and there for ice types. I could see faetails being a nice lead on more offensive based teams with niche use on stall/ balanced teams in OU, but I don't see it being OU. At best I could see it maybe hitting BL.
 

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